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Title of Text

Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄 /Jap. Shi Ryūkyū roku

Translation of Title

Record of an Imperial Mission to Ryūkyū

Author

Chen Kan 陳侃 (1489–1538)

Date of Compilation

1534

Nature of work

The Shi Liuqiu Lu is the first in a series of eyewitness travel accounts documenting missions and embassies to the Ryūkyū’s. On many occasions these missions were about the investiture of a new king. Chen Kan (1489–1538) originated from Yin district in Ningbo 宁波 prefecture (Zhejiang province). After obtaining his jinshi degree in 1526, he took up a three year position in the administration as Supervising Secretary of the Office of Scrutiny for Justice (xingke jishizhong 刑科給事中). In 1532 Chen was sent to the Ryūkyū Islands as head of a mission to officially install Shang Qing 尚清 (Jap. Shō Sei, r. 1526–1555) as the new ruler of the Chūzan 中山 kingdom. After substantial delays caused by administrative obstacles and the lack of a suitable vessel, the voyage would finally take off from the harbour of Changle 長樂. Chen Kan would be accompanied by his deputy Gao Cheng 高澄 (jinshi 1529, 1494–1552) and a retinue consist of around two hundred personnel. As the Shi Liuqiu lu illustrates, travelling the more than eight hundred miles between Changle and the Ryūkyū port of Naha 那霸 in the sixteenth century was all but an easy undertaking. Adversary winds caused the trip to last for seventeen days. The return voyage was even more troublesome, as the the time of departure was hampered by the monsoon season and the voyage itself in the end almost turned disastrous due to a hurricane. In light of this, the importance of the Tianfei 天妃 cult in the seafaring world of those days surfaces, as the desperate sea travelers turned to the sea goddess in their prayers and later on a stele was erected as an expression of gratitude for a safe escape. In the Ryūkyū’s the Chinese envoys were received with full honors.

Major Editions

The original edition of the Jiajing 嘉靖 period (1507–1567) is still extant and photolithographic reprints form part of a number of collectanea. A Japanese edition appeared probably in 1925. There is also a Korean edition.

• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃, in ed., Guoli Beiping tushuguan shanben congshu 國立北平圖書館善本 (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937).
• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃, chapt. 66, in Jilu huibian 紀錄彙編, by Shen Jiefu沈節甫 (1553–1601), 1617.
• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃in Congshu jicheng 叢書集成, fasc. 798.
• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃, photographic reprint of the 1937 edition in Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書, shibu, dili, fasc. 742, 497–536.
• Chin Kan Ryūkyū shiroku 陳侃琉球使錄, 1925? (year of publication uncertain; publisher not identified).

Indexes Available

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References to Ryukyu contained within

The Shi Liuqiu lu has basically four parts, the first containing official documents related to the lead-up to the mission such as imperial edicts and a list of imperial gifts to the future king. The second part provides detailed descriptions of the practicalities of the sea voyage. Of particular importance are Chen Kan’s topographical and ethnographical notes as well as his political reference to the kingdom’s sound relations with the Satsuma 薩摩 fiefdom. Next comes a survey of references in earlier sources since Tang times. Chapter four exhibits a distinct linguistic in interest on the part of the author as it contains information on the native language. The preface was written by the author, while Gao Cheng 高澄 (16^th cent.) wrote the postscript. It has appendices containing general data about the Ryūkyū Islands, as well as an overview of hiragana-like symbols and official reports which were submitted by the author.

Key topics:

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Collections in which extracts are included

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Available translations

partly in Schreibweis in Schottenhammer (2005, 11–67)

Key secondary works

• Fuma Susumu (1999)
• Goodrich/Fang (1976, 165–167)
• Ikeya Machiko (2013, 1–24)
• Miyata Toshihiko (1975, 151–160)
• Müller (1991)
• Schreibweis in Schottenhammer (2005, 11–67)

MODEL BIBIOGRAPHY

• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃 (1489–1538), in ed., Guoli Beiping tushuguan shanben congshu 國立北平圖書館善本叢書 (Shanghai: Commercial Press, 1937).
• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃, chapt. 66, in Jilu huibian 紀錄彙編, by Shen Jiefu沈節甫 (1553–1601), 1617.
• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃, in Congshu jicheng 叢書集成, fasc. 798.
• Shi Liuqiu lu 使琉球錄, by Chen Kan陳侃, photographic reprint of the 1937 edition in Xuxiu Siku quanshu 續修四庫全書, shibu 史部, dili 地理, fasc. 742, 497–536.
• Chin Kan Ryūkyū shiroku 陳侃琉球使錄, 1925 (year of publication uncertain, publisher not identified).
• Fuma Susumu夫馬進, Shi Ryūkyū roku kaidai oyobi kenkyū 使琉球録解題及び研究  (Ginowan: Yōju shorin, 1999).
• Goodrich, Luther Carrington and Fang, Chao-ying, Dictionary of Ming Biography (New York: Columbia University Press, 1976), 2 vols., vol. 1, 165–167.
• Ikeya Machiko 池谷望子, “Shōsei no sappō to Chin Kan no Ryūkyū deshi o megutte” 尚清の冊封と陳侃の琉球出使をめぐって, Nantō shigaku南島史学 81 (2013), 1–24.
• Miyata Toshihiko 宮田俊彥, “Chin Kan no Ryūkyū Shiroku” 陳侃の使琉球録 Rekishi chiri歷史地理 92:3/4 (1975), 151–160.
• Müller, Gerhard, Wohlwollen und Vertrauen: die Investiturgesandtschaft von Chen Kan im Jahr 1534 vor dem Hintergrund der politischen und wirtschaftlichen Beziehungen des Ming-Reiches zu den Ryūkyū-Inseln zwischen 1372 und 1535 [Würzburger Sinologische Schriften] (Heidelberg: edition forum, 1991).
• Schreibweiss, Maria, “Der Seeweg China–Ryūkyū am Beispiel des Gesandtschaftsberichts Shi Liuqiu lu von Chen Kan (1489–1538)”, in ed., Angela Schottenhammer, Trade and Transfer Across the East Asian ‘Mediterranean’ (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2005), 11–67.